Marcus Fakana gets prison sentence in Dubai.

[Ohnonotmeagain]

This is the 18 year old lad who had a holiday romance with a 17 year old girl in Dubai. She was just short of 18.

her parents found out and reported him to the Dubai authorities before he returned home.

his poor parents aren’t well off and had to return home to work leaving him there.

he’s now been sentenced to 1 year in prison.

aibu to think this poor boy should never have been brought before court.

Apparently she did not think that at all. She was very strict and was opposed to her daughter sneaking around with boys (and I think the fact the boy is black made things a million times worse in the mothers eyes.)

There is so much rigidity of thought here that it stuns me. The PP who says he could have refused to go - he was on a family holiday. Of course he wouldn't have done that. Also, it's almost as if some of the posters on here were born middle aged and sitting on their high horses. Teens do shit like this - it's part of their boundary testing and completely normal. It means they make stupid decisions and take risks. That's what's contributed to this. The way some people are writing on this thread makes him out to be some some predatory sex offender. There's context and nuance here.

The mother of the girl is the true villain in this story. Controlling, calculating and probably deeply racist too.

I hope when he finally gets out he's OK and that the first thing that happens is that him and the girl get back together and live happily ever after. That will teach her mum a thing or two.

I totally agree. Even if you take that “well, that’s the consequence, that is the law there and he should have followed it” argument, does a year in prison sound like a fair and proportionate punishment? For an 18 year old who had consensual sex with a 17 year old (who has since turned 18 because they are only a few months difference in age)??

Yes, it’s the law there, and yes, he broke it - but that doesn’t mean we can’t call out that this all seems deeply unfair and feel truly sorry for him. Laws and sentences are man-made, not innate. Respectfully, we can call out what feels unfair and disproportionate whether it’s our own culture or another. I struggle to believe that the posters saying it’s fair would be taking the same view if it were their DS in that situation.

And shame on the mother who reported it.

Poor bugger. Yes it's their law but two people of 17/18 shouldn't be illegal really.

Maybe the police need additional funding so that they have sufficient police officers. Maybe they need to not be told to treat everyone equally. Yes you diverted the thread by saying we would be better off if we enforced laws more. Now you want to pick and choose which ones?

If a 15 year old has sex with a 16 year in the UK neither will be prosecuted.

I would prefer not to holiday in a place of many laws and behaviours I can't support. However, I do feel great sympathy for the parents of Marcus Fakana- and also for him.

None-the-less there might well be another side to this.

The mother reported the man (so called both here and over there) for having sex with her child (so called over there and here despite the different age of consent).

Is this vindictive? She clearly felt her seventeen year old had been mistreated. We don't know what the balance of power looked like or the sense and maturity of the girl. Her call on the law might have been justified even if it wasn't our law.

That he was only just an adult and the girl only just not an adult doesn't change the law but makes it all seem less clear-cut to us.

Ffs he is a normal kid they were a few months apart in age, he was doing what teenagers do. I feel desperately sorry for him and think the behaviour of the mother of the girl was abhorrent and most likely racist

And shame on the parents who took a naive and/ or reckless teen on holiday to a country with such radically different laws.

@Ludovico not for the slaves that get beaten to death, or the local women and girls. Your luxury opinions are grotesque to me.

Would you feel the same if he’d seduced your underage daughter!

Would you feel the same if he’d seduced your underage daughter!

This is ridiculous. They're pretty much the same age.

And you can't pick and choose which laws you obey no matter where you are. Not without something happening.

18 isn't a child.

And that monster woman waited until her precious child was home safe in the uk before reporting him.

What a despicable nasty woman she is. I don't know how she sleeps at night

They were months apart in age, it was a holiday romance, how do you know he seduced her, were you there?

Question wasn’t directed to me but um yes I would feel the same if it was fully consensual and my daughter was only a few months younger than him!

17 year olds do vary in maturity and experience.
Months and years make more difference at this age than in their 20s.

Anyone else wondering if the mum is reading the thread?

He's 18, living at home and still at school. I doubt that he knew enough about the holiday destination that his parents had chosen to do some independent research on the laws in Dubai.

17 year olds do vary in maturity and experience.
Months and years make more difference at this age than in their 20s.

Indeed, so she could have been the more mature one.

Same. I watched a documentary before where a British woman was jailed, she was in a taxi cab with a man, he left some alcohol in it and got out.
She was then arrested for a crime relating to having alcohol in public. She spent weeks sofa surfing. Then had to go to jail and it sounded like
something out of the Middle Ages.

I remember another case either in Dubai or UAE where a girl was waiting for her trial and thank god some how her parents managed to smuggle her out of the country first.

The bbc have regularly reported on migrants worked trapped in packed dormitories unable to go home as their passports are kept with their employer and they have to pay their debt off. I couldn’t stay in a hotel there knowing that.

100% of course not. But we can talk about those laws (and the sentence) in situations like this where there are nuances and can say it feels awful and unfair.

She wouldn’t have been underage here though. She was almost 18!

2034 World Cup just announced - Saudi Arabia hosting. How these countries get these gigs with their human rights records is beyond me.